Published on: Thursday, 9 April 2015
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Abellio Greater Anglia has announced anadditional £15,000 funding package for its team of volunteer station adopterswho help to care for railway stations across its network.
The additional funding will help to fundnew plants and flowers, tools and materials for station gardens and individualprojects that will improve the station environment at locations across EastAnglia.
The ‘Adopt a Station’ scheme, which wasstarted in 2003 enables individuals or groups to adopt their local railwaystation and contribute to its presentation and welfare for the benefit of thelocal community.
Abellio Greater Anglia now has over 183adopters at over 90 stations across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire andCambridgeshire.
The voluntary scheme was originally createdto improve lines of communication between the train operator and station usershowever, over the years it has grown to become much more, with station adoptersnow playing an active role in keeping stations looking good through inventivegardening projects, creative community art projects, taking part in station‘health checks’ or being the eyes and ears of their station.
Over the years, station adopters have alsoplayed a key role in raising money for new initiatives, such as improvedwaiting facilities or planting beautiful station gardens.
Andrew Goodrum, Abellio Greater Anglia’sCustomer Service Director, said: “Our Station Adoption scheme continues to gofrom strength to strength, with many stations in the region benefitting fromthe additional care and attention our adopters provide, working in partnershipwith Abellio Greater Anglia staff and community representatives. I am gratefulto all our station adopters for their contribution and support in helping toput stations at the centre of their local communities and am pleased toannounce this additional funding package to help them continue to do greatthings, making our stations even more attractive gateways to the communitiesthey serve.”